The Chair of the EEOC – which enforces the nation’s laws prohibiting employment discrimination – said the meeting gave the Commission an opportunity to learn about the emerging practice of excluding unemployed persons from applicant pools as part of the EEOC’s commitment to ensure job applicants are treated fairly in the hiring process. The agenda of the EEOC meeting, which was open to the public, included three panels:

Panel 1: U.S. Department of Labor’s Latest Unemployment Data

Panel 2: Unemployment Status Screening

Panel 3: Impact on Unemployed Persons

According to one panelist, employers and staffing agencies have publicly advertised jobs in several fields with the explicit restriction that only currently employed candidates will be considered, and that some employers may use current employment as a signal of quality job performance. Other panelists testified that the use of the unemployment status to screen job applicants was a troubling development in the labor market and may counter act government efforts to get people back to work. Excluding the currently unemployed from job openings could also have a disproportionate effect on the following:

Women, particularly older women,

Certain racial and ethnic minority members,

People with disabilities, and

Older job applicants in general.

The Executive Director of the National Employment Law Project (NELP) – who found the rising trend of deliberately excluding the jobless from work opportunities “profoundly disturbing” – recounted stories that unemployed workers had shared where they were told directly that they would not be considered for employment due to being unemployed.